While education reform reports indicted public schools for failing today's youth and economy, the revisionists, a group of eminent scholars, challenged their assumptions and produced empirical evidence showing that the education crisis was manufactured. The public ignored these arguments. Reform reports affirmed people's (misguided) belief that…

Discusses five steps to address in preplanning for public support and effective management of a multiyear school building program: examine board policies and procedures, engage all appropriate stakeholders, update educational specifications, review technical specifications, and evaluate industry-imposed challenges. (EV)

In the 1988 Gallup Poll, 32 percent of interviewees called student drug use the most important problem facing local public schools, with lack of discipline a close second. This article summarizes respondents' attitudes toward AIDS education, latch-key programs, higher taxes, racial integration, year round schooling, reduced class size, home…

Discusses Boston's Historic Burying Ground Initiative, which was undertaken from a concern for public education. The public-private partnership is expected to take 10 years and six million dollars to restore the final resting places of figures such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine, and the Mather family of Puritan ministers. (GEA)

Public relations efforts of the Carroll County (Ohio) extension office included periodic reports to legislators, a toll-free number distributed on refrigerator magnets, annual calendar/report to the public, newspaper supplements, and town meetings. Long-term effects were a 116% increase in funding, used to upgrade staff, programs, and…

At century's end, educators confront numerous "wicked" problems (like juvenile violence) that resist their best programs and cleverest organizational schemes. Such problems require the entire community to take responsibility for working through conflicting motives and perceptions. Hosting public-engagement forums builds capacity for…

Describes Fairfax County Schools' experience in building public support for the budget by involving the community in the budgeting process. (PKP)

Understanding how money is spent to educate children and support families in local communities can help improve community decision making about public resources. This article reports on a process used in Los Angeles to derive estimates of total public expenditures on services for children and families in the community around the University of…

As governors move this important STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) policy agenda forward, they may find that some of their constituents have yet to be persuaded of the need for improvement. Some citizens and stakeholders may fail to grasp the strong link between high-quality STEM education and economic development in the…

To date, much thinking about research measurement and evaluation has been concentrated in the biomedical and health sciences. However, there is increasing recognition that funders of public research--in areas ranging from music to microbiology or from economics to engineering--need to justify their expenditure and demonstrate added value to the…

The history of museology over the last century suggests that, in general, the founding of a new natural history museum is rarely the result of planning within the cultural policy field, a situation contrary to what occurs in the history of art museums. This lack of planning with respect to natural history museums has several causes, particularly…

This study investigated the efforts to find public support for religious education. A history of education in the United States prior to 1800 is presented to show that the majority of the schools were denominational, whereas at the end of the nineteenth century, the majority of schools were public, and, their supporters claimed, secular. The…

This article outlines some of the creative and practical things taking place in the East Bay Regional Park District as well as its guiding philosophies and policies. (PD)

THIS REPORT OUTLINES SUGGESTIONS FOR CONDUCTING SCHOOL BOND CAMPAIGNS. ONE OF THE FIRST STEPS AN ADMINISTRATOR SHOULD TAKE IS TO EVALUATE THE FACTORS IMPORTANT TO THE SELLING OF BONDS--STIMULATE INTEREST IN INVESTMENT DEALERS THEREBY INCREASING COMPETITION FOR BONDS, PREPARE A COMPLETE ACCURATE PROSPECTUS, CIRCULATE THE PROSPECTUS AMONG BOND…

The growth and development of the Canadian music festival movement were traced in this study. Primary sources were minutes of annual conferences of delegates from the various festivals in Canada (1936 to 1968), and minutes covering the beginnings of the festival movement from 1908 to 1925; secondary sources were the Secretary's Handbook and Digest…